80" Landscape Rake

[rswyan]

I struggleed with this for quite awhile - how to retain the pivot pin in the 3 point mount ? Iniitially I was going to drill a down into the pin from the top and tap it to take like a 3/4" bolt and use a piece of plate larger than the hole. Here's what I came up with instead - it ended up being much easier to execute and will not be prone to unthreading itself with repeated angle adjustments of the rake, which a bolt down from the top might have been.

The pipe is some 3" O.D. with 1/2" walls. Because the pipe was undersized and the pivot pin was oversized I had to machine them to fit them together. I chucked the pipe up in the drill press and ran a 2" Lennox bi-metal holesaw down through and then used a cylinder hone to clean it up a little. Ain't exactly precision machining but it's close enough for my needs. I cut a shallow slot in the pin with a 3" cutoff tool (grinder) so that the grease would have an easy path. The 3" box tube on the 3 point that the pin fits through had a piece of schedule 80 pipe stuffed into it and welded in to capture the grease.

[rswyan]

Image of the rake (with 6 of the 8 "spanners" now welded in) and the pivot pin in place to be welded.

Hmmmm ...... think I need to get ahold of the shop maid and schedule a clean up ...... [img]/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[rswyan]

Front side welded, albeit kinda sloppily.

[rswyan]

Back side welded, doing a little better here.

[rswyan]

Shot of the entire tine holder with the pivot pin/angle plate welded in place ...... sitting on top of another project. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[rswyan]

Randy,

Thanks. Yeah, we did ok that day ...... I need to find about 4 more of those places though. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[surfran]

Lookin awesome. Those dumpster dives can be hard to come by. I can't wait to see the finished product! Of course I still want to see the progress as she goes. Keep up the good work. I see you have a trailer project also. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[radair]

I realize this is an old thread, but how about a photo of the finished product and an update on how well it works? Please?

[rswyan]

Rob,

Sorry for no updated pics .... but I haven't managed to totally "finish" it yet - got sidetracked with finishing up our new driveway and putting in a polebarn (attached is pic of the pad just before they started to put it up.) I've also been trying to finish up a three point logsplitter that I actually started before the rake.

On the rake, I still have to weld on the attachment points for a hydraulic angle cylinder, the tube for the stand/foot to hold it upright when off the tractor, and get the whole thing painted.

I did however get it to the point where I could use it - I did the final grading and smoothing on the drive with it as well as cleaning up the polebarn pad. It worked great for the most part - it's plenty heavy enough that I don't need to add any weight to it. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

One thing I would do different is to weld the index plate for setting the rake angle on the bottom of the 3PH hitch assembly instead of the top. With it on the top as it is now, and with there being a little slop in the pins and holes on the index plate, the rake will pivot a couple of degrees. Ultimately it won't matter to me, since I'm going to put a hydraulic cylinder on it to control the angle.

I'll see if I can snap a photo of it in the next few days - won't be real pretty - but at least it will give some idea of what the finished product will be, when I finally do finish it.